I continue to be inspired this week and I haven’t even picked up my camera since Sunday (which means I haven’t done my Scavenger Hunt yet)…I’ve been having too much fun in Photoshop Elements (can you even imagine what will happen when I upgrade to CS5?). I had a couple of challenges this week that really inspired me.
- Captivus Living has presented a new Photoshop Challenge meant to encourage us to use photoshop tools that we may not have used before. This week’s theme was “liquefy” using the liquefy tool. I’ve been so excited about this prompt that I’ve tried to use it on nearly every photo I’ve worked with to test the effects.
- Katie Julius is also hosting a relatively new challenge called Lens Art. This challenge is meant to challenge those photographers who usually shoot snapshots or portraits to really explore the artistic side of photography…it’s also meant to provide a creative outlet for those of us that already appreciate artistic photography. This week’s prompt was texture. You all know how much I love texture!
- You Capture‘s theme this week is inspiration. I started to think about some of those individuals that have really inspired me recently. Two people that immediately come to mind: Kim Klassen and Betty Jo. Both of these photographers have an incredible way of turning a simple photograph into art. They are also both geniuses when it comes to texture.
- Finally, the Simplicity theme this week was “daydream.” Faith was one of my first blog photographer friends. I continue to be inspired by the simplicity of her photos. Her work reminds me to keep it simple…that subtle changes can make huge impacts.
I’ve been inspired all week, so I thought I’d share another photo taken on Sunday with the above bullets as inspiration. Here is my SOOC shot:
I know that I normally lay out my layers, but there were so many layers in the creation of the image below that I thought I’d keep my steps simple. My edit was completed in Photoshop Elements 7.
- Liquefy tool (shift pixels) used to make the leaf wavy. This was also an interesting way to hide the bird poop.
- High Pass Filter/Soft Light Blending mode used to bring out the details in the leaf.
- Artistic brush filter on the background to play into the blurred edges.
- Bokeh layer to create a dreamy effect.
- Kim Klassen texture for vintage paper effect.
- Text inspired by Kim Klassen’s work.
- Color-Fill Layer used to soften the color.
I did save a PSD file with all of my steps, but this should give you a basic idea of the tools I’ve used. This may be my favorite photograph this week. What do you think?
(Lens Art: Texture, Photoshop Challenge: Liquify, You Capture: Inspiration, Simplicity: Daydream)
By the way, I’m giving away one of my prints this month. Click below for details:
Have an awesome day!
